Publishers of spirituality and religion books had a robust BookExpo America (May 27-29) in New York City, debuting new lines and imprints, promoting their lead books, and feting top authors.

In September Simon & Schuster’s Howard Books will release Eve, a new novel by bestselling author William Paul Young. Given Young's phenomenal success with The Shack (5.6 million sold in trade paper, according to Nielsen BookScan), Howard publisher Jonathan Merkh, who hosted a launch party for Young, has high expectations for Eve.

Another major title for Howard is Post-Traumatic Church Disorder by Reba Riley (Aug.). Subtitled A Memoir of Humor and Healing, the book tells of Riley’s search for a faith that fits after she fled the fundamentalist church of her childhood. Riley’s agent, Kathy Helmers, decided the book was “too big” for original publisher Chalice Press, said Merkh, and Howard acquired the book from Chalice just before it was to go to press. Post-Traumatic Church Disorder has garnered glowing blurbs from Elizabeth Gilbert and A.J. Jacobs, among others.

Howard also is the publisher of several books by the scandal-besieged Duggar family, including this year’s Growing Up Duggar (Mar.). Merkh said they have not pulled books from stores, but he declined to comment further.

The continuing focus on books on Islam was evident on the floor, with Oneworld's Beginner’s Guide to Shi’ism and HarperOne's The Study Qur’an: A New Translation and Commentary (Nov.) just two of the many fall and winter books on the topic. HarperOne's big book at BEA,The Toltec Art of Life and Death by Don Miguel Ruiz (The Four Agreements) and Barbara Emrys, is the lead title in the new HarperElixir body-mind-spirit line. Said publisher Mark Tauber, "Accounts are placing great orders and venues are signing up for mega-events" featuring Ruiz.

David Lewis, v-p of sales and marketing for family-owned Christian house Baker Publishing Group, said, “One of the benefits of attending the show is to get some needed perspective. You begin to feel just how big the industry remains.” Baker took a smaller booth this year “and it was all we needed,” Lewis said. Of the tenor of the show, Lewis said, “Traffic all over the floor seemed to be lighter than usual--just a feel--but our people were very busy.”

New World Library was focused on spreading the word about its new Eckhart Tolle Editions imprint, featuring the first two titles, Parenting with Presence: Practices for Raising Conscious, Confident, Caring Kids by Susan Stiffelman (April) and The Calm Center: Reflections and Meditations for Spiritual Awakening by Steve Taylor (May). NWL handed out finished copies of Taylor's book to enthusiastic response, publicity director Monique Muhlenkamp said.

Buddhist house Wisdom Publications was showing its first-ever fiction title, Maya, by C.W. Huntington, who was on hand for a signing. Said marketing and promotions manager Lydia Anderson, “The beautiful cover and the exotic premise...drew a lot of interest from readers who might not normally be Wisdom's target audience.”

Abingdon Press introduced key fall titles Gifts of the Dark Wood: Seven Blessings for Soulful Skeptics (And Other Wanderers) by Eric Elnes (Sept.); Hidden Inheritance: Family Secrets, Memory, and Faith (Oct.) by Heidi B. Neumark, and a novel, Miracle Drug, by physician Richard L. Mabry. Russ Sellars, director of trade sales, said that BEA provides a good platform to promote Abingdon titles because “our books transcend traditional denominational and theological boundaries and offer practical solutions.”